Death Of Former Cronulla Sharks Player Mannah Possibly Accelerated By Doping

The independent report into National Rugby League Cronulla's '11 supplement program "has warned peptides given to players may have accelerated former prop Jon Mannah's fatal cancer," according to Massoud, Hooper & Wilson of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. An explosive report "has raised concerns about the potential of an 'identified causal link' between peptides CJC-1295 and GHRP-6 and Mannah's relapse into Hodgkin's lymphoma" in late '11. The report details how a number of Cronulla players were "administered" with peptides, including CJC-1295 and GHRP-6 between March and May in '11. This was after sports scientist Stephen Dank "was recruited to Cronulla by ex-Sharks head trainer Trent Elkin" at the beginning of the '11 season. But "it is not known whether these drugs were part of Dank's program." Mannah, who played five NRL games while Dank was employed at the Sharks at the start of '11, "died in January" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 4/26).

SHARKS RESPONSE: In Sydney, Brent Read reported Cronulla Chair Glenn Coleman confirmed that "his club was aware of the situation and had acted with the best interests of the Mannah family in mind." Coleman said, "The club is fully co-operating with ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority) and in the interest of the Mannah family and all our players we cannot and will not comment on matters relating to the ASADA investigation" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 4/26).